Bulgaria presidential and early parliamentary elections 2021: ODIHR election assessment mission final report
The November 2021 presidential and early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria were administered efficiently, but took place in an atmosphere of disillusionment towards the political establishment and voter fatigue from two previous parliamentary elections held within the same year. The roll-out of electronic voting machines was successful despite logistical and technical challenges. While some parties commended country-wide efforts by law enforcement as effective in curbing vote-buying, others claimed that these actions aimed to intimidate their supporters.
These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the November 2021 elections published today by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Key recommendations include:
- Revising the legal framework well in advance of the next election in an inclusive and transparent consultation process, to ensure a coherent and stable electoral framework;
- Providing clear rules and deadlines to carry out a count of control slips produced by the voting machines, to ensure the accountability of electronic voting;
- Implementing a strategy to reduce the number of citizens without a permanent address and conducting a nationwide campaign to issue identification documents to voters belonging to vulnerable groups;
- Removing undue restrictions on Bulgarian citizens with dual citizenship to stand for office;
- Increasing the transparency of police actions to prevent vote-buying by publicizing the criteria, the methodology and the grounds on which warning protocols are issued to potential perpetrators.
- Encouraging broadcasters to abandon the practice of directly engaging journalists in preparing paid campaign material;
- Reviewing the framework for electoral dispute resolution to allow for direct challenging of election results by the contestants and broadening legal standing for voters whose rights are violated to lodge a complaint.
ODIHR deployed an Election Assessment Mission on 25 October 2021 to observe the presidential and early parliamentary elections on 14 November and the second round of the presidential election on 21 November.
All 57 participating States across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.